‘It’s Disgruntled Admitaz,’ Cullen explained. ‘She’s unempowered.’

  The taller man shot me a ghastly grin. ‘So I’ve heard. Best way for a woman to be.’ He nudged Cullen. ‘Know what I’m saying?’

  Cullen gave the man a wink and said, ‘I’d better not agree with you – not if I want tonight to end well.’

  They shared a hyena-like laugh together, before finally we were admitted to the party. I was very glad to have my necklace still on. I had some emergency privilege jewellery stashed just in case it was confiscated, but it wouldn’t have been the same. This necklace was Jude’s, and it felt fitting that I was wearing it on the night I was (hopefully) rescuing her.

  As we walked through a wide hallway I could actually feel the necklace, beating in time with my amped-up heart. Maybe, I thought, it sensed Jude’s presence.

  The house was enormous, and I could see and hear smaller gatherings in many of the rooms we passed – mostly men talking over each other, chugging brandy and whiskey. I resisted the urge to scoff at their confidence. They were celebrating already, as though the battle had been won.

  The main party was in a high-ceilinged ballroom. A singer I didn’t recognise was belting out a sultry tune, while the partygoers danced, mingled, or congregated around the enormous buffet tables.

  Cullen snaked an arm around my shoulder and led me into the middle of it all, pulling me close for a dance.

  ‘How are you doing?’ he murmured into my hair.

  ‘Okay so far,’ I said, taking peeps around the room over his shoulder. There were a lot of people I recognised – warlocks, members of the Not-So-Strange Society, and even a few human politicians and businessmen. It was depressing, but hardly surprising. There were special branches in the human gardaí who knew all about the supernatural world. It made sense that there’d be quite a few humans willing to buddy up with the warlocks and even the Old Ones, as long as there was something in it for them.

  ‘Was that a deflated sigh I felt against my chest?’ Cullen questioned.

  ‘Maybe. I don’t think I’ll ever get around to accepting the jerkier aspects of human nature. Anyway, Barty’s just walked in.’

  I watched Bartholomew as he walked through a swinging door, with Angelica following a few steps behind. Bartholomew was wearing a burgundy cloak with a white shirt and burgundy trousers beneath. There was a dickey bow at his collar, and his beard and moustache were groomed to perfection.

  Looking around, I could see a lot of beards on the men in the ballroom. I was thankful Cullen hadn’t followed that fashion. The only time I’d ever kissed a bearded guy I’d been incredibly drunk and had woken up the following morning with a horrible case of beard rash on my chin. Not that I was considering kissing Cullen anytime soon. Obviously. I mean, not unless there were lives at stake.

  ‘I see Angelica’s on catering duty again,’ Cullen whispered.

  I glanced her way once more. She was wearing neat black trousers and a gleaming white blouse, and carrying a tray of prawns towards one of the buffet tables. I could see her ring of keys, jangling at her belt.

  ‘I guess it’s show time,’ I said with another sigh.

  ‘I guess so.’ He kissed the top of my head. ‘Stay lucky, Katy. I’ll see you soon.’

  He pulled away and headed towards Bartholomew Shannon, while I took in a deep breath and went to the buffet table.

  While I smiled her way and shoved what I thought was caviar into a bowl, Angelica seemed to be doing her best to avoid me – which was unfortunate, seeing as she was incredibly important to tonight’s plans.

  ‘Um, I don’t really know what to do with this caviar stuff,’ I told her, grabbing her by the arm before she could escape. I waved a dessert spoon in the air. ‘I ate a really big spoonful of it, but it tasted foul. Is there something I’m missing?’

  She winced. ‘Try smaller amounts. On one of those toast points.’

  She scooped some up on a tiny triangle of toast and handed it to me. I nibbled some and said, ‘Nah. It’s still foul. Hey, I was wondering … do you think you and me could have a girly chat?’

  She smiled a lot less winningly than usual. ‘Well … I mean, of course we could, my darling Katy. Only not now, obviously – I’m incredibly busy.’

  She glided away, but I grabbed her once more. ‘Please, Angelica, it’s really important. I need your advice.’

  ‘About what?’

  I lowered my voice. ‘About Cullen. Look, I can’t talk about it here. There must be somewhere private we can go in this big, enormous house.’

  She danced on her feet, looking like she wished she could click her fingers and get as far away from me as possible. ‘Not really. Not tonight, anyway. Most of the men use evenings like this to have meetings. The library is full of warlocks, the billiard room and the study the same. So like I said, it’ll have to be another time.’

  ‘It has to be now. Hey, what about the kitchen?’

  Again, she looked uncomfortable. I really thought she was about to say no, right up until Barty glared her way. She glared right back at him, then said, ‘Fine. We can go to the butler’s pantry.’

  ≈

  I followed Angelica into a little room just off the kitchen. There was a two-seater couch in the room, a desk with a chair either side, and shelves filled with files and papers. There was an open door leading into a large, walk-in cupboard, all of its shelves stacked with wine.

  ‘I thought you said this was a pantry.’

  ‘It was, years ago. Now it’s my office.’

  I wrinkled my nose. ‘Why would you need an office here?’

  ‘I cater here a lot,’ she explained, standing up and heading into the wine store, plucking a dusty bottle from one of the shelves. ‘This is one of Barty’s places. He throws a dozen parties a month, so it just makes sense for me to keep some things here. Wine?’

  ‘Sure. Why not?’

  She grabbed two glasses from another shelf, then uncorked the bottle and poured out the deep red liquid. ‘This is a Château Toff de Toff,’ she said. ‘It’s from the Year of the Kumquat. Something like this would sell at auction for around two hundred gold rounds.’

  I did some quick calculations on my fingers. ‘That’s like …ten thousand quid or something. Why are you giving a glass of it to me?’

  She shrugged, taking a sip. ‘I haven’t poisoned you, if that’s what you’re wondering. I just feel like you deserve something nice to happen this evening.’

  ‘Oh?’ I lifted a brow. ‘And why is that?’

  She sat back, crossing her legs and swirling her wine in her glass. ‘Because, Katy, you’re at a party with a man who’ll only ever let you down. I assume that’s what you want to talk to me about – the fact that Cullen is a waste of space and you’re regretting your sudden decision to start dating him. You realise, I’m sure, that I shall agree with you wholeheartedly and tell you to rush back to Jay Jones with your tail between your legs.’

  I held back a scathing barb. This was the very woman who’d given Jay the laced chocolates, making sure that his memories of his proper place in all of this – as my protector – would be repressed. ‘I didn’t think you were such a big fan of Jay’s,’ I said coolly. ‘Anyway, it’s a bit hard to stick with a man who’s recently been seen around town with a very attractive woman. Strange woman too – dressed like an old-school vampire, so she was. I saw her playing footsy with him beneath the table at Let’s Go Round the Bend. But … yeah … I am regretting coming here with Cullen. That’s what I want to talk to you about.’

  She took another sip of her wine, giving me a patronising smile. ‘Well do carry on, Katy. Unburden yourself. It’s not as though I’m in the middle of an incredibly large catering job or anything. Tell me why it is that you’ve come here tonight with one of the sneakiest warlocks in Samhain Street.’

  I considered carefully for a moment. Everything about tonight was a lie. The Old Ones’ acolytes wanted me here with Cullen for a reason, and no doubt Angelica knew all about it. I would have loved to take this moment to be honest with her, but really all I could afford to do was carry on bluffing, even though she knew I was bluffing. At the thought, I fought back a groan. Bluffing, double bluffing, triple bluffing … my life was full of fluffing bluffing at the moment. Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite the time to call her on any of those bluffs.

  ‘Are you all right, Katy?’

  I sat back, putting down my glass. It wasn’t worth two hundred gold rounds in my opinion (an opinion based on the fact that I rarely spent more than a tenner on a bottle of wine) but it was still far too tempting right now. ‘No, Angelica, I’m not all right. I always knew Cullen was a warlock, which was why I would never go out with him, even though I fancied the pants off him. But then life kept throwing us together, time and again. He helped me on some of my investigations with my PI agency, he makes amazing tea, and he rides a gosh darn flying bike. I mean, I’m not made of stone, am I? So … I convinced myself that he wasn’t like all the other warlocks. I told myself stories of how maybe a witch had really hurt him and he’d gone down a foolish path, but somewhere at the end of it he’d find me. And I’d change him.’

  I let out a long sigh. ‘That’s what I told myself. But now we’re here, at a horrible party surrounded by horrible men, and it’s increasingly obvious that he’s perfectly at home among them. He’s even more of a warlock than I thought he was. I’m thinking I’m going to have to end things, because I really don’t want to go out with a guy who thinks men should be in charge of the world, when I think that everyone should have their say. Men, women, witches, wizards … whatever. We’re all the same at the heart of it.’

  Angelica had drained her glass while I spoke, so I refilled it for her. ‘That’s why I need your advice, specifically. You go out with Barty, who’s clearly an incredibly high-up warlock. What do you get out of that relationship? Is he all bluster and bravado and really a nice guy underneath … or are all warlocks as bad as each other?’

  She looked down at her drink. ‘Katy, I don’t go out with Barty. We’re not a couple. I’ve never said we are.’

  ‘Oh, I know that, but I always figured you were lying. I mean, what other reason could you have to be his general dogsbody, to let him take the credit for the new café on the main street when you probably did all the donkey work yourself? And here, tonight, you’re bowing and scraping to these horrible men while he parades around like he owns the world. I mean, you’re either going out with him or you’re getting something out of this extremely unbalanced relationship. So what is it?’ I leant closer, my hand on the drawstring bag. ‘Is he really good in bed or something?’

  Her eyes narrowed. ‘I am not in a relationship with him. Trust me on that, Katy. I have more self-respect than to date a warlock. You should too. Go home, now.’ Her expression grew pleading. ‘Before something bad happens.’

  I cocked my head to the side, examining her. She really wanted me to skedaddle. Maybe she wasn’t so bad, after all. ‘I wish I could, Angelica,’ I said with honesty. ‘I wish I could hunker down on my couch, have a nice cup of tea and watch the Vamp Factor. But I can’t you see, because no matter how difficult it’s going to be, I just can’t let the bad guys win.’ I pulled the bag out, blew the dust into her eyes and said, ‘Sweet Dreams.’

  The sandman spell worked immediately, Angelica’s head lolling to the side as her eyes closed and she began to snore. I quickly shot up and scooped her broken wine glass off the ground, before dragging her towards the walk-in cupboard.

  It was easy to pluck the keys from her belt loop. I held them up. Most of them looked like average house keys, but one of them – a large, iron key – had a fairy tale look about it. Just the sort of key that could free a long-lost aunt from a tower. I shoved them into my bag and grabbed a scissors, and the vial of invisibility potion, mentally calculating how much time I’d need.

  An hour should do it, I decided, putting three drops on the back of her neck, before cutting a tiny bit of her hair, locking the cupboard door and shutting her inside.

  27. Betrayal

  As I stood on the patio outside the kitchen door, I stared longingly across the courtyard. There it was, on the eastern side: the tower in which my aunt was kept. It was tall. Very tall. So tall that I wished nothing more than to whip out my wand and magic myself to the top floor.

  There would be a time to use all of the tools in Aunt Jude’s kit, but that time was not now. Instead, I dabbed a small amount of the invisibility potion on the back of my neck and got going, picking up a couple of large stones from the garden along the way.

  I’d taken two steps before I remembered: my shoes!

  In the past, Hamish had fitted many of my shoes with handy go-faster stripes, but today he had gone one better. All I had to do was tap the heel with my hand, and they became comfy running shoes (with the aforementioned stripes to make me sprint like a champion). After that, I tugged three times on the hem of my dress, and it changed too, becoming a sporty jumpsuit. With my magical outfit switches, I could actually run instead of taking teeny-tiny steps. It didn’t make my calves hurt much less as I headed up the long, winding staircase to the top of the tower, but at least I didn’t trip up along the way.

  I knew I was at the top when I saw the two male guards standing either side of one of the doors, both broadly built, one with long red hair and the other with blond. By then I was sweating a lot, and I couldn’t help but wonder: if an invisible person sweats, is the sweat also invisible when it drips onto the ground? Deciding I couldn’t afford to wait and find out the answer, I grabbed one of the stones from the garden and tossed it a little way down the steps.

  The red-haired guard said, ‘Go check it out, Timmy. But be careful.’

  Timmy came my way, and I blew dust in his eyes. As he thudded to the ground, the other guard arrived, and I sent him to sleep too.

  I’d managed it just in time, too, as I could already see myself reappearing as I passed by a mirror on the way to Jude’s door. The next step of the plan was the one that might not go so smoothly. I guessed correctly that the old-fashioned key would fit in the lock, so that was good. The problem was, it wouldn’t turn. I’d been told to turn it to the left, but I even tried going to the right instead, just to be sure. Nothing worked. Cullen had warned me this might happen. With the use of an earwigging spell, he’d heard Angelica mumbling some sort of incantation at the doorway, but he hadn’t been able to make it out in full.

  Instead, I’d be using an incantation Ned had designed. She was almost sure it would work, as long as I gave the words enough magic. So, touching on my necklace to draw some of its power, I whispered:

  ‘Tower, tower, lock and key

  Secrets buried deep

  Tower, tower, lock and key

  Admit me to this keep.’

  With a harsh groaning sound, the key allowed me to turn it to the left, one time, two times, three times, four …

  The door sprang open, and I stared into the large, round room. There was a bed at its centre, and a small couch and kitchenette, as well as a desk and stacks and stacks of books. Sitting at the desk, my great-aunt turned around. Her hair was greying, but I could see some auburn in it, and she had wild curls just like mine. I always thought I got terrible hair from my mother’s side of the family, but it turned out I had a double-dose. For a moment I just took her in: the woman I’d been searching for all this time.

  She was still for a moment too, but the stress was evident on her face when she finally said, ‘Oh, Katy.’ She shook her head. ‘It is good to finally meet you, but you really shouldn’t have come here tonight.’

  There was no time to argue with what was a very sensibly put point, so instead I said, ‘Come on. Let’s get out of here before anyone notices the key is gone.’ I cocked an ear. ‘It sounds like they’ve started singing their dreadful ditties about the Old Ones in the ballroom. They’ll be on the move soon.’

  ‘No, Katy, you don’t understand,’ said Jude, standing up. ‘They’ve tricked you. They wanted you to come here. Everyone you think is on your side isn’t. I–’ She broke off, as Cullen entered. With him came a lull in the music.

  He smiled at us both and said, ‘Hello Jude. No time for further introductions, I’m afraid. I’ve set off a replicating spell in the front hall – I’ve created a copy of Ned, and they’ve sent a heap of guards to deal with her. But it won’t be long before they cotton on that she’s basically a magical light show. They’ll soon realise the real danger is up here.’

  He tossed me a small key. ‘I put Barty to sleep and got this from his keyring. You might have to use an incantation again. Best to leave through the window. We can head straight to the resurrection point and get there before anyone else does. Between the two of you, you should be able to get the Ice Crystal from Kieran.’

  I palmed the key and whispered another of Ned’s spells, drawing once more on the power of my necklace:

  ‘Tower, tower, lock and key

  Secrets buried deep

  Tower, tower, lock and key

  Release me from this keep.’

  The key had just finished its four widdershins turns when I heard a scuffle. Turning around, I saw Jude lying on the bed as though pushed there, while Cullen rushed towards me, grabbing my purse.

  ‘Cullen?’ I sent him a look of bafflement as he backed away to the door. ‘What are you doing?’

  Jude cried, ‘I told you, Katy! No one is on your side.’

  In the doorway, Bartholomew appeared with at least a dozen guards. It was probably the sight of her son Kieran among them, though, which deflated Jude to such a degree. I watched her whole face fill with hurt, and even a sort of grim acceptance as she stayed cowering on the bed.

  I glared at Cullen. ‘You said you put Bartholomew to sleep.’